Inside the hospital that treated a tyrant: Haunting images show the abandoned wards where Hitler recovered after he was shot at the Somme in 1916

Peeling paint, empty rusting beds and overgrown grounds - these chilling images show the abandoned hospital which counted Adolf Hitler among its patients.

Beelitz Heilstatten, a sanitorium outside Berlin, is a 60-building complex which opened in 1902 to deal with a growing tuberculosis problem in the German capital.

It was turned into a military hospital during the First World War and in 1916 a young Adolf Hitler was admitted to a ward while he recovered from a thigh wound he sustained after being shot during the Battle of the Somme.

Crumbling: A rusting bed stands in the middle of one of the abandoned wards inside the Berlin hospital that treated Adolf Hitler after he was shot in battle in 1916

Nursing a Nazi: Adolf Hitler was admitted to a ward while he recovered from a thigh wound he sustained during the Battle of the Somme

An empty corridor: Beelitz Heilstatten is a 60-building complex which opened in 1902 to deal with a growing tuberculosis problem in the German capital

A derelict bath: The hospital was built in 1898 after Berlin's public health authorities found themselves facing a tuberculosis epidemic

The triumphant Soviet military took over the 600-bed sanitorium following the end of the Second World War.

It eventually closed after the German reunification in 1990 and it has remained abandoned ever since.

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Crumbling past: One of the large communal halls is still bedecked with Soviet signs in this image taken by photographer Rosella Ottaviano

Decaying: In its prime, the hospital comprised a network of treatment rooms which functioned as a small village

Hollywood legacy: The Oscar-winning 2002 film The Pianist was shot in the hospital as was the 2008 film Valkyrie starring Tom Cruise

What for the future? Several attempts have been made to privatise and restore Beelitz Heilstatten since it closed, but none have been successful

Disturbing: Italian photographer Rosella Ottaviano said she could 'still sense the pain in the building' as she through its long corridors

She said: 'The atmosphere felt sad and creepy in there. Walking through the long corridors I could still sense the pain in the building.

'Nothing remains but decay. The paint is peeling off the walls and the stairs were crumbling.

'I felt the history of the place, and the suffering which occurred there. Once people have left a place, time does its work and day-by-day it becomes more derelict.'

Derelict: The sanitorium eventually closed after the German reunification in 1990 and it has remained abandoned ever since

Left to rot: The triumphant Soviet military took over the 600-bed sanitorium following the end of the Second World War and closed after the fall of the Berlin Wall

Painting a thousand words: An empty corridor in the abandoned hospital, which has been documentED by photographer Rosella Ottaviano, 49, from Emilia-Romagna, Italy

The complex is surrounded by dense forest and nature has now reclaimed much of the grounds.

In its prime it was comprised of a network of treatment rooms which functioned as a small village, with a butcher's shop, bakery, gymnasium, restaurant and post office. The sanitorium even had its own power station.

The hospital was built in 1898 after Berlin's public health authorities, facing a tuberculosis epidemic, bought 140 hectares of land to cope with the city's sickly population.

'Time does its work': The once-majestic ceiling of a treatment room which has now been daubed with graffiti after being abandoned

Vast: The main building of the complex which once functioned as a small village with a butcher's shop, bakery, gymnasium, restaurant and post office

In more recent times, Beelitz Sanitorium has been used as a film set.

The Oscar-winning 2002 film The Pianist was shot there as was the 2008 film Valkyrie starring Tom Cruise.

Several attempts have been made to privatise and restore Beelitz Heilstatten since it closed, but none have been successful.

Squaddie past: Adolf Hitler pictured (centre) with his fellow dispatch runners in 1916, the year he was injured during the Battle of the Somme

Nursed back to health: The treatment Hitler received at the Beelitz Sanitorium aided his rise to Nazi dictator some 20 years later

Haunting atmosphere: The Oscar-winning 2002 film The Pianist starring Adrien Brody (above) was shot at the hospital